Jonny Venters is making his way back from undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery in May of last year, but the Braves setup man had to shut his throwing program down last week due to soreness.

Venters went to see Dr. James Andrews, who performed the surgery, and Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that he received a platelet-rich plasma injection intended to aid the healing process.

That’s good news in that there’s no new structural damage, but Venters will be sidelined for at least a month before he can resume throwing again. Unfortunately he’s becoming an example of how not every pitcher who undergoes Tommy John surgery makes a smooth, 12 month-long recovery and it’s looking less and less likely that Venters will pitch for the Braves in 2014 after missing all of 2013.

Before going under the knife Venters posted a 2.23 ERA with 258 strikeouts in 230 innings setting up Craig Kimbrel in what was an incredible late-inning duo.

I remember when they both came up and it wasn’t quite sure who would be closing out games in Atlanta. Sad to see Venters having such a slow recovery. He would be a huge addition to an already strong (when healthy) bullpen.